APEC fashion diplomacy: Trump, world leaders coordinate shirts for photo

DANANG, Vietnam (AP) — It may be an offbeat photo, but it's no joke.

World leaders, including President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin, donned matching silk button-down shirts at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit Friday in Vietnam. Since 1994, the summit included a "family photo" in local attire an annual display of cooperation among world leaders.

It was a departure for Trump, who's rarely photographed in anything but a suit and tie or a golf shirt.

President Barack Obama tried to end the custom when he hosted the summit in Hawaii in 2012, when leaders wore suits, but that proved temporary. Previous APEC shirts have included ponchos in Peru, colorful batik shirts in Malaysia, and overcoats called durumaki in Korea.

U.S. news organizations weren't given access to the event, unlike previous summits.

President Donald Trump and Russia's Vladimir Putin have shaken hands at a summit in Vietnam.

The two leaders were spotted on video greeting one another ahead of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit gala dinner in the coastal city of Danang.

Trump and Putin were expected to hold a formal meeting on the sidelines of the summit. But as Trump was about to land on Friday, the White House announced no meeting would take place.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders blamed scheduling conflicts.

But Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said earlier this week that the pair would not meet unless they had something substantive to discuss.